111144 Ickenham and District Society of Model Engineers Summer 2017 Ashpan Number 114 Number 114 Summer 2017 114 Contents: 2 Cover Story 3 Ashpan Notebook 4 Airlander 10 - Hybrid Air Vehicle 8 Chairman's Chat 9 The Rise and Fall of Television Centre Ickenham & District Society of Model Engineers was founded on 8th October 1948. Ickenham and District Society of Model Engineers, a company limited by guarantee, was incorporated on 10th September 1999. Registered in England No: 3839364. Website: WWW.IDSME.CO.UK IDSME Members Message Board: http://idsme001.proboards.com Hon. Secretary and Registered Office: David Sexton, 25 Copthall Road East, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB10 8SD. Ashpan is produced for members of Ickenham and District Society of Model Engineers by Patrick Rollin, 84 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB10 8RW Email: [email protected] Summer 2017 1 Cover Story Happenings at IDSME By the time you read this the 2017 running season will be almost two- thirds done. The cover photograph shows one of many passenger trains that we have run during the year so far. Mike Werrell is seen at the controls of club locomotive Lady Patricia on the June running day. This locomotive has been a regular performer on running days this year, following a lot of hard work to get it into a serviceable condition, and this was one of the few occasions that somebody managed to prise Harry Wilcox away from the controls of this locomotive. On the same day Michael Proudfoot (inside front cover top) passes the junction signal while driving Mark Hamlin’s R1 single-handed, the other hand being engaged in the rather more important activity of carrying a cup of tea. Apart from the public running days, work has continued on a number of club projects. The S&T department have been engaged in the refurbishment of the semaphore signals. This work has included replacement of all the lenses in the signal spectacle plates. Over the years the colour of these tends to fade and it was noticeable last winter how many of the signals showed a white light during the hours of darkness. President, Geoff Higgs is seen (inside front cover lower) drilling fixing holes in one of the lens retaining rings during the course of this work. Several of the semaphore signals have had their operating air cylinders replaced with examples refurbished by Steve Pennack, and for the first time in more than a year all the semaphore signals are now fully operational. One running day the President was even seen wielding a paint brush, as he gave all the signal posts a 2 Ashpan Number 114 fresh coat of white paint (rear cover). There was no shortage of people able to point out the bits he had missed. Elsewhere work has continued on the new flat roof over the area between the new workshop extension and the workshop store. (opposite) It now boasts a slated fascia and has recently been felted. Work is now progressing on moving the electricity, air and water supplies to the workshop and steaming bay onto a new route inside the fascia, allowing the metal cable tray that currently spans this gap to be removed, improving the whole appearance of this structure. Ashpan Notebook Ashpan 114 & 115 Thank you to those who have submitted contributions for inclusion in this issue of Ashpan. The Autumn edition of Ashpan, number 115, is due to be published at the end of October and so any contributions should be with the editor by the end of September. The editor's contact details can be found on the inside front cover. Winter Programme Malcolm Parsons has taken on the unenviable task of organising this year’s winter programme. At the time of writing he is finalising details of the programme and these should be available soon. Keep an eye on the IDSME message board at www.idsme001.proboards.com or the IDSME website at www.idsme.co.uk. Exhibitions The model railway group is busy organising another IDSME model railway show at the village hall in October. The date is Saturday 21st October 2017. An appeal for volunteers to assist on the day is likely to be made soon. In the meantime, a dedicated section has been created on the IDSME website, giving some details of the exhibition. www.idsme.co.uk/Exhi/ExhiWelcome Elsewhere IDSME has already received an invite to the London Model Engineering Exhibition next January. The exact dates are Friday 19th to Sunday 21st January 2018. As in past years, the venue will be Alexandra Palace. Discussions are taking place as to what form our display should take. Summer 2017 3 Airlander 10 – Hybrid AirVehicle Following on from his talks at IDSME on the history of airships, Mel Fuller brings the story up to date with some recent developments in Bedfordshire. The Airlander 10 is a hybrid airship designed and manufactured by British manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV). Comprising an airship with auxiliary wing and tail surfaces, it flies using both aerostatic and aerodynamic lift and is powered by four diesel engine-driven ducted propellers. The Airlander 10 has the distinction of being the largest aircraft flying today. In its original form as the HAV 304, it was built for the United States Army's Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) programme. The requirement was for a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle able to provide ISTAR* support for ground troops. In 2012, the HAV 304 conducted its maiden flight at Lakehurst, New Jersey. In * Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. 4 Ashpan Number 114 2013, the LEMV project, and thus development of the HAV 304, was cancelled by the US Army. Following the termination of the LEMV programme, HAV reacquired the airship and brought it back to Cardington in England. Cardington was once the RAF's principle airship establishment in the 1920s. Since then HAV 304 has been reconfigured and renamed Airlander 10. The project to continue development of the airship has been backed by private investment, government grants and two successful crowd funding efforts, both of which were oversubscribed. In May 2016 she took off from Cardington and made several successful flights, then suffered perhaps the slowest prang in history. This was caused by the mooring line catching a power cable on its final approach. The ground crew had told the pilot that the line was 50 feet long when it was actually 155 feet. Damage was caused to the cockpit but no one was injured. Summer 2017 5 Following the prang the pilot and co-pilot are exposed to the elements! (above) Airships have been at some spectacular angles in the past (left). The port side airbag of the ALS. (below) 6 Ashpan Number 114 Following repairs Airlander 10 flew again on 10th May 2017 and completed a successful three hour flight; at the time of writing it is limited to a maximum altitude of 3,000ft and a 15 mile radius of Cardington sheds. A new ALS (Auxiliary Landing System) was fitted. This comprises of two airbags to the front and either side of the cockpit and can be deployed in a few seconds. The locals turn out to see Cardington once again in use for its original purpose, nearly 90 years after the scrapping of R100. Summer 2017 7 Chairman's Chat As we again approach the AGM, it occurs to me that this may be my last contribution to Ashpan as Chairman. That depends entirely on you, the members, as, if nothing else, IDSME is a democratic club. So, I will take this opportunity to pass my thanks to the committee for their support over the past two years. We do not meet formally perhaps as often as in the past, but I believe we manage to keep a better handle on what goes on at the club, with the benefit of both email and the message board. Neither of these however replace the best method of communication, and that is to talk and listen to one another. Whilst I try to do this as much as possible, I can’t get along to every gathering so apologies if I’ve missed you personally. We will soon be entering into our winter programme evenings, and I am delighted that Malcolm Parsons has agreed (after some gentle persuasion) to be our programme secretary for the coming year. His initial ideas look very promising, but can I beg as many of you as possible to support Malcolm with ideas of what you want to hear and see on those dark winter evenings. It’s also time to remind those of you who can’t easily get down on a Friday to please ask, and I’m sure we can sort out the occasional lift from the more mobile of our membership. One of the most rewarding things about being a part of the club is to see and hear all of the compliments from visitors. The appearance of the site and the engagement of members with the public brings the best of compliments, so thanks to you all for being so welcoming to our guests. The club has benefited from numerous improvements over the past few years and is now looking great. The problem with what have been very successful projects is that they then generate their own maintenance requirements. I believe it is now time to consolidate on all of the good work that has been done and turn our attention to maintenance of these investments. Over the coming months it is my intention to try and encourage two types of activity.